hey im in the army aviation branch currently, and if i was to do it over after seeing the differences between branches i would go in this order

1)air force 2) navy 3) army ( medical ) or ( intelligence )

as far as branches go, medical and intelligence is where its at with the best treatment of soldiers. i wouldnt go marines if i was you. study for your asvab, score well and pick a job that you like. good luck

hey im in the army aviation branch currently, and if i was to do it over after seeing the differences between branches i would go in this order

1)air force 2) navy 3) army ( medical ) or ( intelligence )

as far as branches go, medical and intelligence is where its at with the best treatment of soldiers. i wouldnt go marines if i was you. study for your asvab, score well and pick a job that you like. good luck

Come on, no love for the Corps? I've been out for over 13 years and every day of my life I still feel my balls swell up a little bit because of the title I earned so long ago. We had career orientated MOS's too you know?

It's a brotherhood that can't be fully understood until you're a part of it. Once you can call yourself a U.S. Marine, boy you better just stand the F by because it's a lifetime treat! Aaaaaaaaaaaaauuuurrrrrrrgghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Come on, no love for the Corps? I've been out for over 13 years and every day of my life I still feel my balls swell up a little bit because of the title I earned so long ago. We had career orientated MOS's too you know?

It's a brotherhood that can't be fully understood until you're a part of it. Once you can call yourself a U.S. Marine, boy you better just stand the F by because it's a lifetime treat! Aaaaaaaaaaaaauuuurrrrrrrgghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

Oorha! Devil Dog! Well put.

No disrespect to any of the other branches but if you want to join the branch with the strongest warrior ethos I'd become a Marine, we're (arguably) the most combat oriented brach of the entire US military. However, that does come at a price, we're also the poorest so we generally don't have as generous bonuses and bennies as the others do. We're also the smallest which means that if you go combat arms, esp. infantry you'll probably spend a good bit of your time in on deployment and crammed in an amphib as part of a MEU at that too. We also don't many have overseas postings to the nicer parts of the world unless you get embassy duty.

What the Corps lacks in money, creature comforts, and nice postings we make up in esprit de corps. Without a doubt the Marine Corps has the strongest esprit de corps of any of the branches of the military and the strongest identification with the parent branch. Where as people in the Army might identify with their division or branch of service and Sailors with their ship Marines, by and large, identify with the Corps as a whole before their unit and MOS/branch. It's a brotherhood of sorts and one that will become a part of you for the rest of your life because once you join the Corps you will always be a Marine no matter if you were a reservist, active duty, served 4 years or 20, got out as a Lance Corporal, Gunny, Major, etc. you're a Marine and you have an instant bond with every other Marine who has served or is currently serving.

__________________
"Gone to Florida to fight the Indians. Will be back when the war is over."
Colonel Commandant Archibald Henderson, USMC
in a note pinned to his office door, 1836

"We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over the northern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the hell is going on?"
Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., USA, Chairman of the the Joint Chiefs of Staff
during the assault on Grenada, 1983

I think the funding may be better if he's good enough to become a Navy SEAL.

With things beginning to wind down in Afghanistan and downsizing in the works going in to any branch of SOCOM will become more and more difficult. As it stands now I've read that some parts of SOCOM have lowered their standards a bit in order to get more people but that's bound to come to an end real soon if it hasn't started already. Units like the SEALs and Delta have supposedly not lowered their standards any but that doesn't mean that they won't make them even tougher so they don't end up getting more people than they can use.

At any rate, getting into any part of SOCOM is not easy by any stretch of the definition. It requires not only very good physical conditioning it also requires just as much mental fortitude, you have to have a pretty strong type A personality and the drive to want something so badly that you can and will push yourself to your limits and beyond. If the OP is even considering going spec ops in whatever branch he ends up joining I highly recommend him checking out SOFREP.com, it's blog site devoted to special operations and is run by former spec ops people from various spec ops units including SEALs, Rangers, Special Forces, and MARSOC. Over there you can read up on the history and background of the various units as well get some good info on what it takes to become a spec ops warrior.

__________________
"Gone to Florida to fight the Indians. Will be back when the war is over."
Colonel Commandant Archibald Henderson, USMC
in a note pinned to his office door, 1836

"We have two companies of Marines running rampant all over the northern half of this island, and three Army regiments pinned down in the southwestern corner, doing nothing. What the hell is going on?"
Gen. John W. Vessey Jr., USA, Chairman of the the Joint Chiefs of Staff
during the assault on Grenada, 1983